South Korea’s Iljin Materials to build EUR 10.7 copper foil plant in Hungary

South Korea’s Iljin Materials will build a 3.8 billion forint (EUR 10.7) copper foil plant in Gödöllő, on the outskirts of the capital, to supply Samsung SDI’s growing local production capacity for electric vehicle batteries, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign affairs and trade minister, said on Monday.

The government is supporting the construction of the plant, which will have an annual capacity of about 10,000 tonnes, with a 722 million forint grant, Szijjártó said.

Several South Korean battery manufacturers have set up plants in Hungary with the largest capacities in the world, the minister said.

Hungary last year secured ten investments by electric auto sector companies, Szijjártó said, adding that Iljin Materials’ investment was the eighth one in the country this year in spite of the pandemic.

Hungary is the world’s tenth largest exporter of electric vehicle batteries,

Szijjártó said, adding that if the country continued to attract investments at the current rate, it had a realistic shot at reaching the top five.